Support AlterNet
Do you value the information you're getting from AlterNet? Please show your support with a tax-deductible donation.
Feedback
Tell us how we're doing.
Here for the Fight
Share and save this post:
Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace:
Today's Economic Crisis in Historical Perspective
Democracy and Elections:
More Unfinished 2008 Election Business: Verifiable Vote Counts
Steven Rosenfeld
DrugReporter:
A New Approach to Drugs Would Save New York Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
Gabriel Sayegh
Election 2008:
Franken Lawyer: "We Are Going To Win"
Sam Stein
Environment:
Bank of America Retreats from Financing Destructive Mountaintop Removal Mining
Michael Brune
ForeignPolicy:
Obama Needs to Make a Clean Break on Latin America
Mark Weisbrot
Health and Wellness:
Obama's Health Care Reform Plan Is Based on the Clintons' Failed 1990s Model
Marie Cocco
Hurricane Katrina:
From the Bayou to Baghdad: Mission Not Accomplished
Amy Goodman
Immigration:
Immigrant Rights Signed Away?
Jennifer Lee Koh, Esq.
Media and Technology:
Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives
Doron Taussig
Movie Mix:
Love Bites: What Sexy Vampires Tell Us About Our Culture
Sarah Seltzer
Reproductive Justice and Gender:
The Hymen Mystique
Carole Roye
Rights and Liberties:
Ban the Cluster Bomb
Brian Cook
Sex and Relationships:
A Message for Sex Educators: Sex Is Not Dirty
Lorraine Kenny
War on Iraq:
The Dilemma of Foreign Prisoners in Iraq
Ma'ad Fayad
Water:
Corporate Water Abusers Should Not Be Trusted As Stewards of the World's Water
Wenonah Hauter
Bookwaves on Cover to Cover is a public radio program dedicated to bringing listeners literature reviews and discussions with authors. Recently, host Richard Wolinsky sat down with Margaret Cho to discuss her recent book I Have Chosen to Stay and Fight. A self-described “Korean-American fag-hag,” Cho’s success as a stand-up comedian has led to top-selling films and books as well as sold out shows across the country.
Margaret Cho, when I went to your website, I noticed that you have a blog. What is the relationship between this book, I Have Chosen to Stay and Fight, and the blog?
Actually, a lot of what I have written comes from my blog. This happens in my standup comedy too. I start off with the blog, that's where everything begins with my writing, and then from there, jokes are formed, and ideas get more fully formed in my shows, and then a lot of this raw material is very appropriate for this book and end up in this book.
Is that the process that you always used? You wrote a diary-type thing and then just saw what came out and shaped it?
I wrote that way for a little bit and then I spent more time writing little pieces of paper, little words on pieces of paper so that they would just refer to all these longer ideas. So having a blog actually makes it much more organized for me because then I have one place to put everything.
If you're doing a standup routine, and it has a name, is it the same show that you're going to be doing later? What is the variation from show to show?
It's about an hour and a half of jokes that haven't been told before and won't be told again.
Every show you do is completely different?
Completely different. It's an hour and a half of jokes that are new and will be thrown out as soon as I'm done.
Do you sometimes sit there and watch these things and go, "God, I was good. I'm funny"?
Yes, because I totally forget what I've done. There have been four films now, so it's kind of surprising that I came up with all those things.
[Listen to the rest of the interview, or subscribe to AlterNet's RSS feed to have them automatically delivered to your computer!]
Richard Wolinsky is the host of Cover To Cover, which airs on KPFA Pacifica Radio.
Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from AlterNet! Sign up now »
EMAIL
PRINT
2 COMMENTS
